1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to windmills, and more particularly to a novel design of a windmill which generates electricity regardless of the speed of the wind.
Historically, windmills have been used for a miltitude of purposes, but generally to do mechanical work or to provide electricity by having their mechanical output coupled to a generator. The generation of electricity from windmills is presently economically feasible at today's energy prices. Therefore, there is great interest in improving a windmill's ability to deliver electricity. 2. Description of Relevant Art
The relevant art is exemplified by: Cleland U.S. Pat. No. 204,481 entitled "WIND-ENGINE"; Smith U.S. Pat. No. 232,558 entitled "WIND WHEEL"; Wood et al. U.S. Pat. No. 324,510 entitled "WIND ENGINE"; Hardaway U.S. Pat. No. 640,901 entitled "WIND AND WATER MOTOR"; Ebert U.S. Pat. No. 1,299,151 entitled "COMBINED WINDMILL AND AIR COMPRESSING MECHANISM"; Hakkarinen U.S. Pat. No. 3,473,038 entitled "WIND DRIVEN GENERATOR"; Yengst et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,909 entitled "VERTICAL AXIS FLUID DRIVEN ROTOR"; Luchuk U.S. Pat. No. 3,970,409 entitled "WIND POWER AND FLYWHEEL APPARATUS"; Baumgartner et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,012,163 entitled "WIND DRIVEN POWER GENERATOR"; Tackett U.S. Pat. No. 4,118,637 entitled "INTEGRATED ENERGY SYSTEM"; Cymara U.S. Pat. No. 4,260,325 entitled "PANEOMONE WIND TURBINE"; Tuley U.S. Pat. No. 4,276,816 entitled "WIND PROPELLED FAN"; Retz U.S. Pat. No. 4,365,929 entitled "VERTICAL WIND TURBINE POWER GENERATING TOWER"; Piston U.S. Pat. No. 4,546,264 entitled "RELATING CELLULAR ENERGY GENERATING AND STORAGE DEVICE"; Australian Pat. No. 145,506; French Pat. No. 2,448,049; French Pat. No. 900,038; West German Pat. No. 2,612,200; Japanese Pat. No. 50-132459; and Japanese Pat. No. 57-135149.
The attempts at solving the problem of what speeds are preferred for generating electricity have generally centered upon two basic design features: designing windmills which generate electricity only at relatively low speeds of wind; and designing windmills which generate electricity only at high speeds of wind. Both of these solutions are inadequate to provide maximum electrical generating capacity as they will most certainly result in a major portion of the available wind power not being utilized. Importantly, the present art fails to utilize wind at its maximum potential because of deficiencies in design and construction.